What Would You Say If I Told You It Was Real?
by Alexandra the Dreamer
Summary: "...it's just a story, Ed."  "But what would you say if I told you it was real?"


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Hi,

**It's me again. I couldn't resist writing this one shot after reading 'Disbeliever' by **_**sweetgirl8353**_**.**

**Don't worry, I am carrying on with 'The Call' this is just something quick I thought of.**

**Hope you enjoy it,**

**Alexandra the Dreamer.**

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* * *

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I walked down the street, wearing my red sundress with white polka dots, white gloves, my trench coat and my black heels with a strap across the arch of my foot. My blonde hair was in loose curls and I wore only some mascara.

I was going to a local café to meet my brother, Simon Moore, as it was his birthday.

My friend, Anna, accompanied me, but only because she liked my brother. Anna wore a brown tartan dress with red in it, a red trench coat, brown heels and black gloves. She had red hair that was straight but adorned with a brown headband.

We both carried gifts for my brother; mine was a book titled 'Lust for Life' by Irving Stone, and Anna's was a copy of the painting 'Starry Night' by Vincent Van Gogh.

As you can tell, my brother was a fan of Van Gogh, and had taken art at university.

I saw the café ahead – ironically called 'The Starry Night' – and sped up slightly.

"Calm down, Elizabeth," Anna said, trying to catch up with me.

As soon as I walked into the café, I scanned the tables to look for my brother.

"Elizabeth!" my brother called, striding towards me when he saw me.

"Simon!" I squeaked when he lifted me up in a tight hug.

He spun me around slightly, before setting me back down on my feet.

"You've grown," I noted his frame towering over my 5'7 frame.

"You haven't," he replied.

"Simon, I take it you remember Anna, my best friend," I gestured to her.

Simon went to say something to Anna, but he went silent when he looked at her. I expected a jokey reply from Anna, or a sarcastic comment about his starring, but she too, was silent. I looked between them and saw a small blush begin to form on their cheeks.

"Simon, aren't you going to introduce us to your company?" a male voice asked Simon.

Simon snapped out of his state and turned to the man standing beside him.

"Peter," he wrapped his arm around the man's shoulders. "This is my dearest sister, Elizabeth. And Elizabeth, this is Peter Pevensie, my closest friend whom I met during my travels."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Peter shook my hand.

I smiled as he grasped my hand with a strong grip. Peter seemed to be roughly my brother's age, which was twenty-four; he had blonde hair, blue eyes and the showings of stubble on his chin and cheeks.

"And this is Anna, Elizabeth's best friend since I can remember."

Peter shook her hand as well, smiling warmly at her,

"Let's sit down, I can introduce you to the other members of the Pevensie family," Simon gestured to the table, where three others sat.

We moved to the table, and I found I was seated next to a girl, possibly a few years younger than I was, opposite a boy about my age and beside Anna.

"I'm Lucy," the girl beside me held her hand out.

She had straight brown hair, bright blue eyes and seemed to have a bubbly nature.

"I'm Elizabeth, Simon's sister," I shook her hand.

"Ah, Simon's told us so much about you, I believe I already knew what you were going to look like before you stepped in the door," she laughed. "We've had thorough descriptions of you almost every time he visited us."

"I hope nothing bad," I sent a look at my brother.

"No, just good descriptions and stories of the jokes you both played on each other," the boy opposite me informed me, before reaching across the table with his hand. "I'm Edmund, Pete and Su's younger brother but Lu's older brother."

I took his hand and smiled at the playful look he shot Lucy, and the glare she sent him in return.

"Elizabeth, but you obviously know that already."

The woman sat beside Edmund was almost painfully beautiful. She had brown hair that hung in curls down her back, pale skin, grey eyes and red lips. She had a stiff expression on, one that I would guess someone would wear if they were being forced to do something they didn't like (like eating brussel sprouts at Sunday dinners or at Christmas).

"I'm Elizabeth," I offered my hand to her politely.

"I know," she sniffed.

"Su," Peter warned.

She sent him a glare, but that didn't seem to phase Peter's joyfulness.

"Elizabeth, that is my dear sister Susan," Lucy quickly introduced me to her.

"Now then, I do believe we are all here to celebrate someone's birthday," Peter announced.

"Happy birthday," we all chorused to a bashful Simon.

We took it in turns handing Simon his presents. A joint gift from Peter, Edmund and Lucy was a large book titled 'The Chronicles of Narnia'. It was handwritten and it was huge; they said it had taken them the best part of a year to write it. When Simon read out the title, Susan snorted into her handkerchief, causing Peter, Edmund and Lucy to exchange a look with each other. Simon thanked them, saying that would be one to read repeatedly.

Susan's present to Simon was two tickets to the theatre where 'everyone who is anyone attends' as she stated. Simon said he appreciated the gift, but nothing more.

I handed my present to Simon next, who tore the wrapping paper off. He stared at the book with a gleeful look on his face. He thanked me and began to read the first few chapters.

That is, until Anna held out her gift. When the wrapping paper flew off the painting, he stared at it in awe, before grabbing Anna in a hug. When he let go of her, both of them had turned red in the face and weren't making eye contact.

We spent the next few hours chatting, eating and drinking with one another, all of us having fun.

"I should get going, I still have studying to do tonight," I said, standing up and putting my coat on.

Anna stood up with me and we began to get ready to leave.

"Will you come and visit us?" Lucy asked me.

"I promise, I'll get a lift with Simon when he next visits," I promised her, giving her a hug.

"See you soon, Elizabeth," Peter gave me a brief hug.

Susan just gave me a quick nod before looking back into her compact mirror and fidgeting with her hair.

"Goodbye Elizabeth," Simon kissed my cheek and turned to Anna.

I turned to Edmund, who was smiling with his one dimple showing.

"Goodbye Elizabeth," he grasped me in a tight hug.

Out of the four Pevensie's, I found I had been able to get along with Edmund the most. Peter was highly amusing with his tales and jokes, Lucy was always bubbly and smiling and Edmund was like me, in the way that he was fair, kind and had a wonderful sense of humour.

Edmund let go of me, and I turned to Anna.

"Are you ready?"

She nodded and we began to make our way out of the café. I turned at the door and waved goodbye to the five people at the table.

* * *

A year later, I walked through the park with Edmund, both of us laughing and having a good time. We were heading to his family's house for dinner; something that everyone was accustomed to. Simon and I were often invited round to the Pevensie's house for dinners, parties or just to catch up with each other. I had my arm looped through Edmund's, as we had become best friends over the past months. My blonde hair hung down my back, but I had ditched the curls and gone for a straight/wavy look.

"Hurry up Ed!" Peter called from the gate of the Pevensie's house, once he said Edmund and I walking down the street.

Edmund and I looked at each other, before running to the Pevensie's house. Edmund won, due to his long legs, but being the gentleman he was, he opened the gate for me and let me in before him.

"I swear, Edmund, you were once a King," I laughed at him.

Surprisingly, he didn't join in with my laughter, so I turned to look at him. He had an unfathomable look on his face, one that I didn't like.

"Edmund, are you okay?" I took a step towards him.

"I'm fine," he took a step back and shook his head for a moment.

He looked back up at me and helped me take my coat off. He then shrugged his coat off and we walked into the living room.

* * *

Three hours later, I was sat on the floor, leaning against the chair Edmund sat in, with Lucy's head in my lap. Peter, Edmund and Lucy had delighted in reciting from memory one of the stories from the book, 'The Chronicles of Narnia', they wrote and gave to my brother as a present – it was 'Prince Caspian' if you must know.

"I think it's wonderful how you incorporated your family and yourselves into the stories," I had said, smiling.

"Come Lu, let's go outside and do some stargazing," Peter stood up and held his hand out to his youngest sister.

I smiled at them as they walked out to the kitchen, leaving Edmund and I sitting in silence, listening to the crackling of the fire.

"Lizzie?"

"Yes, Ed?"

"You know your statement earlier?"

"About the story?"

"Yeah, that one. Do you believe it?"

"...it's a story Ed."

"But what would you say if I told you it was real?"

* * *

I sat on the train to London, looking at the front cover of the book that had caused the death of my best friend but the belief in a new world.

* * *

When Edmund had asked me the question, I started to panic, and therefore, we began arguing. It ended up with me storming out of the house and past two very confused Pevensie siblings. Once I was at home, I had promptly burst into tears in the hallway, attracting the attention of my family. I waved them off and ran up to my room, blinded by tears. In my room, I saw there was a picture of Edmund and I sitting in the park, hugging each other with wide smiles on our faces. Looking around the room, I saw how many photos of Edmund and I there were, causing the pain to rip further inside me.

I locked myself in my room for a week, refusing to come out to anyone, and I only ate when Simon sat in my room and watched me.

The Sunday, two weeks after my argument with Edmund, the doorbell rang. I heard my Mother answer it, hushed voices speaking for a moment and people walking into the hall, before my Mother called me. I walked downstairs but slowed down when I saw Susan Pevensie and her fiancé, Andrew Turner, in the hallway. Now, the reason why I slowed wasn't that they were there, but their faces; they had red-rimmed eyes one could only get from crying uncontrollably, and their expressions were ones of people going through absolute hell.

"What's wrong?" I asked them once I stood in the hall.

"My brothers and sister..." here, Susan took a deep breath as if to console herself. "Peter, Edmund and Lucy...they...along with my parents...were all...on a train out of London...and another train collided with it, sending both off the tracks...and they were..."

Susan looked to Andrew, who nodded and turned to me.

"The five of them were killed in the accident...we had to confirm the bodies...yesterday..."

My Mother said something to Susan and Andrew, but everything became a blur to me. My best friends were all dead, and I had left them with a stinging rejection.

"Elizabeth!" my Mother shrieked when my knees began to give out.

Andrew quickly caught me and lay me on the floor, with my Mother and Susan rushing around me. Then, my mind gave into the darkness and I fell away from consciousness.

* * *

Four weeks later, I was sat on the ground beside the grave of Edmund, holding the chronicles of Narnia.

It had been one agonisingly painful week since the funeral of the five Pevensie's. I had tried to block it from my memory, but I always remember walking past Edmund's coffin and starring at the photo of him on the top, unable to imagine Edmund lying motionless and cold in the black casket.

Since the funeral, I dressed up in my best every day and would visit their graves. I placed fresh flowers them each day and made sure they were always clean. Once I had finished checking them over, I would sit beside Edmund's grave and read him one of the stories from the book he wrote. It was then, whilst I was reading, that I could imagine the five of them all sitting with me and listening to me read.

After a week of visiting the graves and reading the stories, I had a dream where a great lion spoke to me in a field of grass. That was when I knew Edmund was telling the truth, and the stories he, Peter and Lucy wrote were in fact autobiographical of their times in Narnia. And in the dream, Aslan had helped me understand why the pain was tearing my heart apart; I had slowly but surely fallen in love with Edmund.

* * *

To the present day, I was sitting on the train to London, holding the book. I was going to my home, after visiting Susan and Andrew again. My parents and Simon had offered to come with me, but since I made the journey every day – after all, the Pevensie's had been buried in Finchley, where they had lived – I was perfectly fine on my own.

As I looked out of the window, I placed the book in my shoulder bag and strapped the bag shut.

Suddenly, a loud shrieking sound filled the air, quickly followed by metal crunching and people screaming. I was thrown out of my seat and went through a split second of agony, before landing on sand on my back.

I was still wearing my emerald green swing dress, black heels, green gloves and grey trench coat, and my bag still hung from my shoulder. My hair, still the same blonde straight-wavy hair, hung down my back, the diamante hair clip – my nineteenth birthday present from Edmund – was still in my hair and the emerald pendant, also from Edmund, was still around my neck.

I stood up and looked around, brushing the sand off my clothing. I was standing on a beach of some sorts, with crystal blue waves gently lapping at the shore. There was a slight breeze, gently tugging at my blonde curls. I slipped my coat off and dropped it, with my bag, on the sand, before taking my shoes off. I took the few steps to the sea and let the water wash over my toes.

The water was deliciously cool, but not freezing, so I waded further into the water. I held my skirts up, even though the water only reached the middle of my calf and my dress hung just below my knee, but I didn't want to ruin it anyway.

After paddling about in the sea for a few minutes, I walked back to shore and sat on the sand by my coat. I tucked my coat and shoes into my bag – there were plenty of room beside the book – and stood up once more.

I began to walk into the forest, heading in an easterly direction, wondering where I was. I must have spent at least two hours of trekking through the forest, but I felt no more tired than I had been when I started. Whilst I was walking, I heard the sound of a horse trotting through the trees.

"Excuse me, are you alright?" a familiar, regal voice asked me.

I spun around, my blonde hair falling about my face, and saw the person who had caused me the heartbreak weeks ago.

Edmund sat on a tan horse, wearing a dark blue shirt with wide sleeves that came back into a cuff around his wrists, under a brown leather body tunic with shoulder pads, light brown trousers, dark brown boots, and a leather belt with a sword attached to it. His brown eyes widened when he saw my face, and his grip on the reins slackened.

"Edmund..."

"Lizzie..."

He jumped off his horse and began striding towards me, as I started to sprint towards him, a smile plastered on both our faces. He caught me up in his arms and swung me around in a deep hug. We were both overjoyed to see the other again, after almost two months of separation. Edmund released me from his grasp, but leant his forehead against mine with his eyes closed and his hands on both my cheeks. I had my hands on his shoulders and my eyes closed as well, relishing in the moment.

"You caused me so much pain, leaving me," I said after a few moments of silence.

He opened his eyes and looked at me.

"Why?"

"Well, over the time we knew each other, I..." I trailed off, unsure of what to say next.

"You?" Edmund prompted me.

I decided just to go for it, so I stood on my tiptoes with my lips close to his ear and told him the three words that allowed me to love Narnia. A smile broke out on his face as he pressed a kiss to my forehead, before repeating those three words into my own ear.

My heart burst into happiness at his words.

He lifted my chin up and pressed a kiss to my lips. I clung to him, afraid he would vanish again, but he didn't after a few moments. What seemed like eternity to me, but must have been only seconds, we parted, still holding each other.

"Come on, Lucy and Peter will kill me if you don't meet them again," he said, pulling me to the horse.

He strapped my bag to the horse's saddle and mounted up. He then reached down and helped me onto the back of the saddle and just behind him.

"Hold on."

I clung to Edmund as the horse cantered through the trees and out of the forest.

* * *

I looked over Edmund's shoulder and saw we were heading to a large castle, one made of white marble that seemed to shine in the sunlight.

Edmund led the horse into the stable, were we dismounted onto the floor. Edmund asked the stable boy to get my bag taken to the room next to his (it had a door that linked both rooms to each other), before grabbing my hand and leading me into the castle.

I followed Edmund through the halls, until we reached a set of doors. He opened them and led me into a bedroom suite, belonging to someone.

That someone heard our arrival, and with her brother, turned to see who walked in.

"Edmund Pevensie, you were supposed to be here three hours ago..." Lucy trailed off when she saw me standing, still in my bare feet, beside Edmund.

With a squeal, she jumped off the bed and hugged me tightly. Peter joined in, lifting both Lucy and me off our feet.

After Lucy had forced me into a dark blue Narnian dress with a silver underskirt, square neckline, silver design on the velvet bodice and silver pumps, we sat down on the seats and I began to tell them my story, starting after the argument Edmund and I had, but leaving out all the boring bits (you know, the ones like 'I woke up and got dressed' or 'I met my Aunt Tilda that day').

Edmund held my hand all the way through my story and his thumb brushed the back of my hand.

"And now, I'm here, believing in a land told in stories, written by my best friends," I smiled, but Edmund huffed so I added. "And lover." This caused Lucy to squeal once more and clap her hands.

"So," Edmund turned to me. "What would you say if I told you it was real?"

"I'd say I believe you," I smiled at him, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

* * *

**Did you like it? The line Edmund asks Elizabeth twice in the story is the line I chose to be the title, as it was such a wonderful line.**

**Hope you liked reading my One-Shot!**

**Have a Happy New Year!**

**Alexandra the Dreamer.**


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